BILL NUMBER: SB 1245	CHAPTERED  07/28/99

	CHAPTER   216
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   JULY 28, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   JULY 27, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   JULY 15, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 12, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 20, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 27, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hayden and Assembly Member Rod Pacheco
   (Coauthors:  Senators Polanco and Vasconcellos)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Honda, Knox, Kuehl, Lempert,
Longville, Lowenthal, Romero, and Steinberg)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 1999

   An act to add Section 354.6 to the Code of Civil Procedure,
relating to compensation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1245, Hayden.  Compensation:  World War II slave and forced
labor.
   (1) Existing law authorizes actions to recover wages, but requires
various actions to be brought within specified periods of time.
   This bill would authorize any World War II slave labor victim or
World War II forced labor victim, or heir of the victim, to bring an
action in superior court to recover compensation , as defined, from
any entity or successor in interest thereof, for whom the labor was
performed, either directly or through a subsidiary or affiliate.  It
would provide that any action brought under these provisions shall
not be dismissed for failure to comply with the applicable statute of
limitation, provided the action is commenced on or before December
31, 2010.
   (2) This bill would also set forth findings, intent, and a
requirement that the Treasurer and the Public Employees' Retirement
Fund and the State Teachers' Retirement Fund monitor investments in
businesses that owe compensation to victims of slave labor.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  (a) Thousands of victims of Nazi persecution, and the
heirs of victims of Nazi persecution, are residents of the State of
California.
   (b) These victims of Nazi persecution have been deprived of their
entitlement to compensation for their labor and for injuries
sustained while performing that labor as forced or slave laborers
prior to and during the Second World War.
   (c) California has a moral and public policy interest in assuring
that its residents and citizens are given a reasonable opportunity to
claim their entitlement to compensation for forced or slave labor
performed prior to and during the Second World War.
   (d) To the extent that the statute of limitations applicable to
claims for compensation is extended by this act, that extension of
the limitations period is intended to be applied retroactively,
irrespective of whether the claims were otherwise barred by any
applicable statute of limitations under any other provision of law
prior to the enactment of this act.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature, in addition to the
provisions of this act, to enact additional public policy in any
other case of proven patterns of slave labor employed by firms
presently doing business in California that served as the basis of
ill-gotten wealth at the expense of victims who are residents of
California.
  SEC. 3.  The Treasurer, the Public Employees Retirement System, and
the State Teacher's Retirement System shall monitor and report to
the Legislature on investments of the state and its pension funds in
companies doing business in California, and affiliates of those
companies, that owe compensation to victims of slave and forced labor
from 1929 to 1945.
  SEC. 4.  Section 354.6 is added to the Code of Civil Procedure, to
read:
   354.6.  (a) As used in this section:
   (1) "Second World War slave labor victim" means any person taken
from a concentration camp or ghetto or diverted from transportation
to a concentration camp or from a ghetto to perform labor without pay
for any period of time between 1929 and 1945, by the Nazi regime,
its allies and sympathizers, or enterprises transacting business in
any of the areas occupied by or under control of the Nazi regime or
its allies and sympathizers.
   (2) "Second World War forced labor victim" means any person who
was a member of the civilian population conquered by the Nazi regime,
its allies or sympathizers, or prisoner-of-war of the Nazi regime,
its allies or sympathizers, forced to perform labor without pay for
any period of time between 1929 and 1945, by the Nazi regime, its
allies and sympathizers, or enterprises transacting business in any
of the areas occupied by or under control of the Nazi regime or its
allies and sympathizers.
   (3) "Compensation" means the present value of wages and benefits
that individuals should have been paid and damages for injuries
sustained in connection with the labor performed.  Present value
shall be calculated on the basis of the market value of the services
at the time they were performed, plus interest from the time the
services were performed, compounded annually to date of full payment
without diminution for wartime or postwar currency devaluation.
   (b) Any Second World War slave labor victim, or heir of a Second
World War slave labor victim, Second World War forced labor victim,
or heir of a Second World War forced labor victim, may bring an
action to recover compensation for labor performed as a Second World
War slave labor victim or Second World War forced labor victim from
any entity or successor in interest thereof, for whom that labor was
performed, either directly or through a subsidiary or affiliate.
That action may be brought in a superior court of this state, which
court shall have jurisdiction over that action until its completion
or resolution.
   (c) Any action brought under this section shall not be dismissed
for failure to comply with the applicable statute of limitation, if
the action is commenced on or before December 31, 2010.
  SEC. 5.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to provide just compensation to aging Second World War
slave labor victims and Second World War forced labor victims, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.
